I showed my digital art at a local cafe and got some weird feedback

I put up a few of my fantasy character portraits at this little coffee shop in Portland last month. They have a rotating art wall for local creators. This older guy came in, looked at my piece for a solid five minutes, and then told the barista, 'The ears are wrong. Elves have pointed ears, not round ones.' My character wasn't even an elf, it was a completely original species I designed. It threw me off because I spent maybe 40 hours on that piece, focusing on the lighting and texture of the skin, and that's what he noticed. It made me think about how much you need to guide the viewer with clear visual cues, even in original work. Now I'm second-guessing if my designs are communicating what I want them to. Has anyone else had people completely misinterpret a core part of your artwork in a public setting?

3 comments

3 Comments

hayden7206d ago

Remember when I had a painting of my dog in my shop lobby. This guy comes in for an oil change, looks at it, and asks me what kind of weird cat it was. It was a clear picture of a black lab. People just see what they expect to see, you know? They have a box in their head for elves with pointy ears, so that's what they look for. Don't let it make you second guess your own stuff. That original species sounds cool, and the guy probably just watches too much Lord of the Rings.

kim.stella5d ago

Got a buddy who paints fantasy stuff for fun. Someone told him his goblins looked too much like "angry garden gnomes". People just latch onto the first familiar thing they see, even if it's wrong. Your dog painting story is exactly that.

nelson.gavin5d ago

Angry garden gnomes" is a pretty funny thing to get hung up on.